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transform schooling as we know it, to help all students realise their
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Friday, October 12, 2018

Every week Bruce Hammonds and I collect articles
to share with teachers to encourage a creative approach to teaching and
learning. I welcome suggested articles, so if you come across a gem, email it
to me at allanalach@inspire.net.nz

Secondary Traumatic Stress for Educators: Understanding and
Mitigating the Effects

An article that examines the effect of student
trauma on their teachers - a vital read.

‘With this evolving role comes an increasing need to understand and
address the ways in which student trauma affects our education professionals.

In a growing number of professions, including firefighters, law
enforcement, trauma doctors and nurses, child welfare workers, and therapists
and case managers, it is now understood that working with people in trauma —
hearing their stories of hardship and supporting their recovery — has
far-reaching emotional effect on the provider.’

‘Educational research typically has
focused exclusively on collecting evidence to prove or disprove the benefits or
intended effects of products, programs, policies, and practices. The recent
movement toward evidence-based educational practices and policies is only about
gathering and verifying evidence for effects. It shows no concern for negative
side effects.

Does this mean that educational products
are immune to adverse side effects? Does it mean that all educational products
have no negative impact on students?’

‘Inductive learning takes the traditional
sequence of a lesson and reverses things. Instead of saying, “Here is the
knowledge; now go practice it,” inductive learning says, “Here are some
objects, some data, some artifacts, some experiences…what knowledge can we gain
from them?”’

achievement of all other goals very unlikely. That
goal is to create those conditions that make students want to learn; not have
to learn but want to learn more about self, others, and the world. The
overarching purpose of schooling and its governance is to support that goal,
i.e., to create and sustain contexts of productive learning supportive of the
natural curiosity and wonder with which children start schooling’.

would be at the center their own education. They would
spend considerable time in the community under the tutelage of mentors and they
would not be evaluated solely on the basis of standardized tests. Instead,
students would be assessed on exhibitions and demonstrations of achievement, on
motivation, and on the habits of mind, hand, and heart – reflecting the real world evaluations and
assessments that all of us face in our everyday lives.’

‘In this compulsive age of one-click
logins, left and right ‘swipes’ and selfie auto-sharing, it can be easy to let
our guard down and cross the line between what is appropriate and what is inappropriate when using social media.’

‘This is the worst group we’ve ever had.”When
I hear a teacher say this, I know those students are in trouble: The person in
charge of their well-being, the tone of their classroom, and their
opportunities to grow has decided they are beyond saving.’

‘Many educators indicate that mastering
classroom management is one of the most difficult parts

of the profession.
Teachers who struggle with poor classroom management skills will never get
their students to learn at their highest potential. Their students are seen off
task, talking to their friends, defiant, and disrespectful The goal is to change the behavior, not to
continuously battle for power with a child in the classroom. Sending them out
of the classroom only gives in to what some of them ultimately want.Here are
five ways to decrease disciplinary issues in the classroom.'

‘In this fast changing world there is no grand plan held by the
technocrats in Wellington, as much individuals

as they would like to think so! All this
certainty was put to rest by Darwin and his theory of evolution. Life evolves
and it is impossible to predict what will eventuate. This applies to the
universe as much as it own lives. This provides real challenges for individuals and schools.

‘A vision gives an organization a sense of direction, a purpose, but
only if it is ‘owned’ and translated into action by all involved.But vision is
not enough in itself. The values that any organization has are just as
important or even more so because they determine the behaviors that people
agree to live within. Alignment of people behind values is vital but too often
both vision and values are just words hidden in folders are rarely referred to.
What you do must reflect what you believe if there is to be integrity. And any
alignment needs to include students and parents as well.’